New Delhi, Aug 22 : Union Minister for Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday announced special recruitment drive and increase in salaries for Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe contract labourers in Public Sector Units (PSUs).

The decision was taken at a review meeting on Thursday that assessed progress, earmarked specific percentage of jobs for SC, ST and set welfare measures for employees and contract labourers.

New Delhi, Aug 22 : The Centre on Friday asked steel producers to cut prices as and when there was further fall of rates in the global markets.

P K Rastogi, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, told reporters that Global steel prices have already softened and if the trend continued, it called for a reduction in the domestic market too.

New Delhi, Aug 22: The Railway Board has accepted the proposal of Defence Public Sector Undertaking BEML Ltd designed Stainless Steel Electrical Multiple Unit (SS EMU). These units will be built for first time in country.

The Board is placing developmental order for six rakes. These SSEMUs will be replacing the existing corten steel EMUs in a phased manner now running in Mumbai and Chennai suburbs.

The total requirement is of 3000 cars with a business potential of Rs. 5000 crore in the coming years.

The Railways are operating a substantial fleet of EMUs in the Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi sectors. These EMUs are made with Corten steel and are corrosion prone resulting in high maintenance cost, more down time and reduced life.

New Delhi  - Heavy rains across India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh have claimed at least 27 lives bringing the death toll in rain-related incidents in the region to over 600, officials said Thursday.

Most of the deaths were caused by houses collapsing and flooding in six districts in the state.

New Delghi, Aug. 21 : Suggesting an integrated approach to improve India''s higher education standards, the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Professor Samir Brahmachari, said the country urgently req1uired a research university.

Speaking at a panel discussion on "India''s Leadership in Manufacturing: Role of Engineering Education" at Observer Research Foundation today, Professor Brahmachari stressed the need for quality education, citing the instances of unemployability of many engineering graduates when there is also a demand for good engineers.

Professor V. S. Ramamurthy, the Chairman of Board of Directors of IIT, Delhi, underlined the need for creating enough market for post graduates and PhD holders.

New Delhi, August 21 : Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel on Thursday inaugurated the country''s longest runway at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi.

The first touchdown on the 2.75-mile-(4.4-kilometer)-long new runway, the third in the row, was made by an Air India Boeing 777 flight.

Various MPs and senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation were present at the inaugural ceremony.

The new runway developed by Delhi International Airport private limited under a public private partnership initiative has been completed ahead of its scheduled date of February 2009 and an integrated passenger terminal (T 3) is also being planned.